Charges against Dutch footballer Quincy Promes upgraded to attempted murder

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) will pursue attempted murder charges against Dutch international footballer Quincy Promes. The football player was previously charged with attempted manslaughter over the stabbing of his cousin after a family party in Abcoude on 25 July 2020.

A spokesperson for the OM in Amsterdam confirmed on Wednesday a report by RTL Boulevard that the charges were upgraded. To be considered a case of attempted murder, a perpetrator must have acted in a premeditated manner. The crime is subject to more severe penalties than attempted manslaughter.

The OM has accused Promes of stabbing the man in his knee. On Tuesday, the victim said through his attorney that he wanted Promes prosecuted for attempted murder, and not the lesser charge. A report by the television program, Nieuwsuur, later that day alleged that Promes admitted stabbing the man during phone calls with his family which were secretly recorded by the police shortly after the violent crime happened.

A transcript of the calls indicated Promes intended to stab the man, though publicly he has always maintained his innocence. "No one is going to steal from us. (...) He is impertinent. He knew today. I couldn't leave it. Sorry aunt, forgive me," he allegedly said in one of the calls.

"These are confessions by Promes without his knowledge that he was being recorded. He told his father, his mother, and an aunt," the victim's lawyer, Yehudi Moszkowicz, told Nieuwsuur. The phone calls are irrefutable evidence, he claimed.

Moskowicz had requested an Article 12 procedure to force the OM to upgrade the charges. That hearing will no longer take place because of the OM's decision on Wednesday. As such, the criminal case will continue with the next hearing on March 31 as scheduled, at the Amsterdam district court.

The OM would not confirm the existence of the recorded calls to Nieuwsuur, as the case is ongoing and such evidence had not been presented. It said that if the evidence does exist, it will investigate how it wound up in the hands of journalists.

Gerard Spong is the attorney representing Promes. He approached the OM himself and proposed supplementing the indictment by including the more serious allegation. This prevents delays in the handling of the criminal case, the OM reasoned.

Adding attempted murder to the indictment does not yet mean that the prosecutors believe there is enough evidence to warrant conviction for attempted murder. The prosecutor handling the case will only make their final position known during the trial.

Promes was playing for Ajax at the time of the incident. Early last year he moved to Spartak Moscow in Russia.